Abstract Numerous stories have been written describing the successful
development of medications and their uses in treating society s ills.
Yet, from discovery to patient use, pharmacotherapy has presented
another face: a disquieting, even unhappy history. In the annals, one
finds that drug discovery and development has largely been built upon
the concept of Average Joes : an average molecule, an average
biology, an average patient, an average disease, an average route of medication
administration, an average healthcare professional, an average treatment
plan (prescription), an average contentment with average outcomes. How long
can society tolerate How well have we done withaverages
and is there an alternative? New thinking, including illuminating
new strategies, holds a promise of substantial improvements that can
reduce many of the historical disappointments and failures.

About the Speaker Jake Thiessen is a pharmacist whose professional degree was earned
from the University of Manitoba. His doctoral studies took him to
the University of California, San Francisco, where he specialized in
the field of pharmacokinetics. Presently he is a Professor and
Founding Director of the new School of Pharmacy, University of
Waterloo, which is scheduled to admit its first students in January,
2008, and was recently appointed as Director of the new University of
Waterloo Health Sciences Campus in Kitchener. These positions have
followed a 33 year career at University of Toronto that included the
role of Associate Dean at the Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy. Extra-university appointments
have included: Chair of the Ontario Ministry of Health s Drug Quality
and Therapeutics Committee, member of the 1990 Pharmaceutical Inquiry
of Ontario, Chair of the Scientific Advisory Committee on
Bioavailability and Bioequivalence, and President of Canadian Council
for the Accreditation of Pharmacy Programmes.

For more informationShirley Fenton
Managing Director, WIHIR
University of Waterloo
(519) 888-4074

Seminar Hosts This seminar is hosted by the Waterloo Institute for Health
Informatics Research (WIHIR) and The infraNET Project, University of Waterloo.

The infraNET Project, initiated by the University of Waterloo in
1996, is a partnership to advance Web and Internet technologies. Its founding
partners were: LivePage (now part of Siebel), MKS, Open Text, RIM,
Sybase (Waterloo) and Waterloo Maple.

We also gratefully acknowledge the assistance of the Institute for
Computer Research, University of Waterloo.